1. Field
The present disclosure relates to resettable circuit interrupting devices and assemblies capable of being tested and reset from remote locations, and include without limitation ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI's), arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCI's), immersion detection circuit interrupters (IDCI's), appliance leakage circuit interrupters (ALCI's), and equipment leakage circuit interrupters (ELCI's),
2. Description of the Related Art
Many electrical wiring devices have a line side, which is connectable to an electrical power supply, and a load side, which is connectable to one or more loads and at least one conductive path between the line and load sides, or a cable between the line side and the load side. The electrical wiring device industry has witnessed an increasing call for circuit breaking devices or systems which are designed to interrupt power to various loads, such as household or industrial appliances, and consumer electrical products. In particular, electrical codes require electrical circuits in home bathrooms and kitchens to be equipped with ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI), for example. Presently available GFCI devices, such as the device described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,894, use an electrically activated trip mechanism to mechanically break an electrical connection between the line side and the load side. Such devices are resettable after they are tripped by, for example, the detection of a ground fault. In the device discussed in the '894 patent, the trip mechanism used to cause the mechanical breaking of the circuit (i.e., the conductive path between the line and load sides) includes a solenoid (or trip coil). A test button is used to test the trip mechanism and circuitry used to sense faults, and a reset button is used to reset the electrical connection between line and load sides.
A proposal has been introduced to the National Electric Code (NEC) Section 422.16(B)(4) that would require new and remanufactured vending machines to have installed at the factory a power cord or cable assembly that includes a ground fault type circuit interrupting device. In a typical environment where a vending machine is located, a cable assembly with a ground fault type circuit interrupting device would be located in the rear of the vending machine and plugged into a wall outlet typically behind the vending machine. To test the ground fault type circuit interrupting device, the vending machine would have to be moved away from the wall to gain access to the circuit interrupting device. Since vending machines are typically heavy and the location of the wall outlet and rear cable assembly make it difficult and inconvenient to perform periodic testing of the ground fault type circuit interrupting device. Moreover, Underwriters' Laboratories (UL) has issued a requirement for periodic and convenient testing of ground fault type circuit interrupting devices.